This Christmas post is a bit late, but to be honest with you, my sense of time has been completely skewed for at least the past month. That’s not to say that I forgot about Christmas. I mean, I think it’s literally impossible to forget about Christmas when people start putting up their Christmas lights before Halloween is even over (or in some cases, never even take them down at all, like one of our neighbors down the road), but when you work in retail at this time of year, and start working the exhausting hours, days just start blending into each other.

Today was probably the longest day I’ve ever had working at my current job. Boxing Day. I seriously thought 6pm would never roll around. Every time I looked at the clock, I was disappointed at how early it actually was. Luckily, things at work will start slowing down now, and hopefully I’ll have more time for baking and working on all those projects I said I’d do once winter rolled around.

I have to admit, I’m not huge into Christmas. I didn’t bake a whole lot of delicious Christmas goodies this year. In fact, this is the only Christmasy thing I made, and it’s not even really that festive. Without the crushed candy canes, it wouldn’t even be a reflection of Christmas.

I know, I know, I’m a horrible person.

But despite the fact that I’m just getting around to posting this now, I actually made these a couple weeks ago. Or was it only one week ago? To be honest with you, I can’t remember. Yes, I know this post is a day late (or two days late by the time I actually press the “publish” button), but if people are allowed to leave their Christmas lights up well past Christmas, then I’m still allowed to blog about Christmas treats!

I gave myself a pat on the back for how well these little guys turned out. I had never made biscotti before, so I had no idea what to expect or how well they would fare. Truthfully, I’m not that into biscotti, but when I saw these in a holiday baking magazine my mom gave me, they piqued my interest. Mint and chocolate is one of my favorite flavor combinations (despite not being a huge chocolate lover), and since I still had some leftover white chocolate wafers, I figured I could substitute that for the vanilla flavored candy coating the recipe called for. Mint-chocolate with a white chocolate coating: What more could I ask for in a biscotti?

1. Lightly grease two cookie sheets; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in eggs and peppermint extract until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in the remaining flour and the chocolate. Divide dough into four portions. Wrap portions in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour or until easy to handle.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Unwrap each dough portion and shape into a 7-inch loaf. Place dough 4 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets; flatten each loaf slightly until about 2 inches wide. Bake, one sheet at a time, in the preheated oven for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheets on racks for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Using a serrated knife, cut loaves diagonally into half inch slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on cookie sheets. Bake in oven for 5 minutes. Turn slices over and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more or until crisp and dry. Transfer biscotti to wire racks to cool.
4. Dip one long side of each biscotti into melted chocolate coating. Place cookies on waxed paper. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes while coating is still wet. Let stand until coating is set.